Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 47.djvu/142

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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

here and there. The author remarks that the mathematician will complain of deficient rigor in his method of treatment, but he feels that from the point of view of the physicist some slight relaxation is justifiable.

A text-book on Steam and the Marine Steam Engine has been prepared by John Yeo, R. N., from notes of the lectures given by him as an instructor in steam engineering at the English Royal Naval College (Macmillan, $2.50). The scope of the book includes descriptions of the marine boilers and engines in common use, with their fittings, a statement of the properties of steam, and instruction concerning feed-water, the combustion of fuel, etc. Other matters treated are the construction of double and triple expansion engines and the form of propeller screws. The author's language is notably clear and concise, and the volume is fully illustrated.

Under the title The Genesis of Water a speculation as to how the first combination of oxygen and hydrogen took place is presented by P. W. Dooner. The pamphlet is printed at Los Angeles.

In the Report of the State Board of Health of South Dakota for 1892 we find, besides the usual accounts of the transactions of the board and the conditions of public health, articles for public information on Dangerous Contagious Diseases and Diphtheria, and more general articles on climate and the climatic cure for consumptives. The climate of South Dakota is presented as of special value, from the medical point of view, on account of the peculiar dryness of the atmosphere. "That it is as good as any during the summer is not to be doubted, and that in winter it is far better than the great majority is a fact." Cases of "taking cold" and of pneumonia are much rarer in proportion to the population than in the States farther east; and with the clearness of the atmosphere of the country and its lack of clouds and cloudy weather the sunlight acts as an efficient tonic and destroyer of impurities. The claim is maintained that the climate fulfills to an excellent degree the conditions of one favorable to consumptives.

A new educational journal, devoted to "manu-mental" training, has appeared under the title Art Education (J. C. Witter & Co., 853 Broadway, New York; 75 cents a year). It is to be issued bimonthly for the present. Its field is the training of the mind through the use of the hand, and hence comprises drawing, manual training (so called), and writing. In the first number are articles by Francis W. Parker, on Acquiring Forms of Thought Expression; Stella Skinner, on Color Study; Henry T. Bailey, on the Supervisor of Drawing; besides quite a number of biographical notices, with portraits of instructors in drawing, manual training, etc. There is a colored supplement, which it is small praise to say is worth the price of the number. It consists of two lithographic figures printed in several shades of brown, and "illustrates the fact that artistic effect does not depend so much upon an elaborate design as upon correct combination of color." The editors are James C. Witter, Charles P. Zaner, and Rose N. Yawger.

A Stable Money Standard is the title of the address by Henry Farquhar, Sectional Vice President, before the Section of Economic Science and Statistics, of the recent Brooklyn meeting of the American Association. The author concludes that while gold has been proved by the experience of the ages to be the best-fitted medium to meet the requirements of such a standard, all interference by Government in defining legal tender is needless and mischievous. Perfect freedom in contracts for methods of payment and for the kind of money should be allowed, the terms of the contract to be interpreted and enforced according to prevalent usage; the Government's part being only to certify to the weight and fineness of its coin.

The Twelfth Annual Report of the Board of Control of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station includes the report of the treasurer, showing the receipts and expenditures on the several accounts, and the reports of the director describing the additions and improvements that have been made to the station and its appurtenances and the work done. Fifteen bulletins were published, containing six hundred and ninety-five pages in all, of each of which fifteen thousand copies were distributed; besides circulars on the Leaf Spot of Chrysanthemums, Preserving Eggs, and the Fertilizer Law of the State. The new experiments undertaken include investigations with a view to determine the relative value of the different breeds of